About Outis Philalithopoulos

In the Invisible Knapsack, Peggy McIntosh describes the process by which she began theorizing white privilege. We look at her narrative in depth, and try to see what it tells us about how privilege concepts were first constructed and what this means for us today.

Discussions of privilege have become ubiquitous, and Peggy McIntosh’s 1988 talk has something to do with this. But there are strange contradictions in the chronology of her account of how her views changed. What did she believe earlier? We look at the evidence.

Privilege has gone from an idea discussed by a few activists to an entirely mainstream concept enjoying great respect. How does the idea actually work out in practice? What is its history? The focus is on the seminal work of Peggy McIntosh.

Turkey is entering a major crisis, which many of the media have been quick to blame on Erdogan’s nationalist inclinations. However, the crisis has much more to do with poor economic fundamentals and the lending decisions of European banks.

Economic migrants seek prosperity and are justified in doing so, yet they can also be seen as pawns in an international strategy that destroys the negotiating leverage of workers. The resulting contradictions potentially render conventional political classifications obsolete.